1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to battery-powered LED light sources and, more specifically, to intermittent battery-powered LED light sources for use on safes having both mechanical and electronic combination locks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although consumer spending decelerated rapidly in the United States following the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the country's 38th President, firearms and gun safes were not only immune from the consumer spending meltdown, but their sales increased exponentially. The dramatic increase in sales of firearms had little to do with sales of hunting rifles and shotguns. Rather, it was largely attributable to increased sales of assault rifles and handguns.
Gun safes are routinely used to safeguard firearms against theft by burglars, as well as to prevent unauthorized access to firearms by minors and others who are unauthorized to use them. Gun safes are typically equipped with either a mechanical or electronic combination lock, which unlocks a front access door when the proper combination is entered. Were a gun-possessing home owner to detect entry of a burglar into his home at nighttime, that home owner would want to be able to open his gun safe without detection and remove an appropriate weapon with which to confront the intruder. Whereas conventional internal home lighting systems could give the owner away while attempting to open the safe, a low-power light that illuminates only the safe's combination lock would make it far more likely that the home owner could open his gun safe undetected. Although a flashlight might accomplish the task, flashlights suffer from a number of significant drawbacks. First, the beam of a flashlight might be far brighter than required for the task and might give away the presence of the awakened homeowner. Second, as the beam of the flashlight is not automatically directed at the combination lock, it may be difficult to hold the flashlight while operating the combination lock. Third, a flashlight must have power cells with sufficient charge to light the filament of the flashlight's lightbulb. As most flashlights lack momentary-on switches, it is not uncommon to inadvertently leave a flashlight switch in the “ON” position and run down the charge of the power cells to zero. Fourth, the home owner must know where the flashlight can be found without turning on interior house lights. Flashlights are frequently misplaced by household occupants.
What is needed is a dedicated, low-power light module for illuminating, on demand, the combination lock of security safes and, particularly, of gun safes.